Considering a Dog Grooming Course?
The easiest way to make dog grooming your future profession is by doing a dog grooming course. It is a fun and rewarding job where you get to spend your day with animals. A dog grooming course will provide you with all the essential skills and knowledge required to become a dog groomer. If you prefer animals over people and are a big dog lover, this is the course for you. The good news is there are so many dog grooming courses currently available with both full-time and part-time options.
A Brief History of Dog Grooming
It may seem surprising but dog grooming is actually an ancient art. It is also a necessity and began in some form of a thousand years ago where humans and proto-dogs/wolves co-evolved into the two closest species on planet Earth. We know from watching primates that grooming one another is a bonding experience and this is no different when it comes to dogs. It is believed that humans began grooming their dogs to display their gratitude for protecting them. Dogs have become more and more valued in society over the years. The earliest historical records of dog groomers as a profession comes from the Middle Ages whereby full-time ‘kennel boys’ worked on feudal estates in Europe.
They were maintaining the hunting and herding stock for the noble Lord. The ‘kennel boys’ were young men who lived with dogs. They would care for them each day and groom them using brushes, combs and scissors. These early dog groomers that were grooming the dogs out of gratitude for their hard work in helping them to hunt, were mostly serving a practical need. However, grooming has evolved into an art form since the 16th century when we began to see curly coats, the likes of the poodle breed. These were the origins of dog grooming and today, dog grooming is marked as a necessity by dog owners. Dog grooming made its strides in the 20th century with the emergence of new tools.
What Will You Learn?
Now that you know the origins and a brief history of dog grooming, let’s discuss what you will learn if you do a dog grooming course. Although courses can vary, you can expect to learn how to bathe dogs correctly, grooming techniques, how to use grooming tools and the various breed types and dog personalities so that you can groom them based on their own specific characteristics.
You will also learn how to properly handle the dogs so that you can place them on the grooming table correctly without hurting them or stressing them out further. In addition, you will learn about the various skin diseases that dogs can have so that if you are grooming a dog with a specific skin disease, you know how to groom them without irritating their issue.
Other things that may be included on your course are business management for those looking to start up their own dog grooming business and marketing and advertising to promote your business. Something very important to note here is that dog grooming is no walk in the park.
It is not an easy course or easy job to have, it is very demanding and requires a lot of knowledge to do it correctly. It is important that you know that you will not just be playing with dogs all day. If you want to ensure this course is for you, reach out to the course provider or someone working in the profession for advice.
Career Opportunities
By completing a dog grooming course, there are many career opportunities open to you. You could start up your own dog grooming business, you could work as a dog groomer in a salon or a pet shop. You could also work in a pet shop as a staff member and do grooming on the side too or advise on grooming products sold in store. You could also progress and do a course in other areas such as animal training or veterinary studies to become an animal trainer or veterinary nurse.
If you are serious about doing a dog grooming course, check out courses near you in the Nightcourses.co.uk national course finder.
